May 19

“It depends what ‘is is,’” is a famous and laughable quote by a man who was a Rhodes Scholar but who used his formidable intellect to distort the truth and to deceive the people who looked up to him. All but the most stalwart of his supporters felt he had crossed a line with that turn of the screws on truth.

But sometimes a very tiny word can indeed have a very profound impact and we see that reality often in the Word of God. The single word upon which many Biblical promises turn is the word ‘if.’ We see one of those glorious promises that hinge on the little word ‘if’ in I John 1:9.

It says, “If we admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus came to earth specifically to forgive us and to cleanse us from the condemnation that is the wage of our sin. He wants us to be clean and righteous in God’s eyes. Jesus does not want anyone to be bound by sin.

He does not want anyone to forfeit his home in Heaven because our holy God who is of purer eyes than to look upon sin cannot admit to Heaven anyone who is not washed clean of sin in Jesus’ blood. But our cleansing hinges on that little word ‘if.’ The Lord’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross can be efficacious for any individual only if he will first admit his sin so our holy God can forgive it.